


A Guiding Voice

by fandomgeek14



Series: Running in the Zombie Apocalypse [1]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: 5am, A Voice in The Dark, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Female Runner Five, Five has a crush on Sam but doesn’t realise it, I'm Bad At Summaries, I’ll probably write a sequel, My first Zombies Run! Fanfic, Pre-Relationship, S1M7 spoilers, and vice versa, mission 7 series 1, selective mute Runner 5, so sorry if it’s not good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomgeek14/pseuds/fandomgeek14
Summary: The comms are down, it’s gone midnight, and Runner 5 is lost and in potential danger far away from Abel Township Things really hadn’t gone to plan and she’s starting to wonder why she’s bothering to Run anymore. Her only beacon of hope comes from the voice in her headset, Which comes with a deeper implications about their relationship than she realises... even if she hasn’t figured it out yet.
Relationships: Maxine Myers & Sam Yao, Runner Five & Sam Yao, Runner Five/Sam Yao
Series: Running in the Zombie Apocalypse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865143
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	A Guiding Voice

Runner Five’s headset had gone quiet again and she was once more alone.

“Sam?” She’d whispered into the headset “Sam?” 

The situation was looking more and more grim. It was pitch black at night and the white noise from her headset instead of a reply from the comms operator told her that she was running blind once more and that she her chances of survival weren’t improving. 

But yet, she still continued to run.  _It_ ‘ _s something to do,_ _ I suppose _ she thought to herself quietly when she questioned why she was still running hopefully in the direction of Abel and not just waiting her inevitable death and possibly zombification. The sound of her feet hitting against the ground made her think about what it would be like to die. Odd thought to have, but when your feet and legs are burning from exhaustion, your throat is dry from not drinking anything in a few hours because the couple of water bottles you picked up whilst running for your life were for the settlement you’re staying at and you’re doubting about how much longer you can last, you have those types of disturbing thoughts creep into your mind. 

Would her death be a quick chomp down on her brains? or would she be bitten or scratched and suffer a slow and painful one as she became one of them, like her family did? Would she go to Heaven or Hell? She’d killed people, well, zombies that used to be human. Would God be making exceptions now? Or would she be damned to hell for committing matricide and siblicide? 

Who would care when she died? 

_Sam. Sam would._

Funny, brilliant, kind, energetic, marmite obsessed Sam Yao.

Sam knew nothing about her but he would remember her, he was the kind of person who would. Hell, he was the type of person who although he’d barely know anything about someone, he’d see the best in them and maybe after time he’d call them his friend, without knowing a single thing about their old life. He called  her his friend. She had a friend in the apocalypse. 

Oddly enough, the pre-apocalypse movies and tv shows alwaystold you to not trust anyone in the apocalypse, which Five always found a bit weird. _Surely you’d needs friends to make it through as well?_ People you  could trust not to stab you when your back is turned or push you into a horde of zombies. 

It’s a Funny thing, trust.

It’s funny in the same way you wouldn’t expect ice cream rolls to pop into your mind during the apocalypse. Trust comes up in funny situations. Like when she met Sam, she’d just picked up an earpiece and run in the direction he’d told her to, she just instantly trusted him to keep her safe. Trusted a complete stranger with her life. 

Her thoughts were interrupted as she doubled over, feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. She felt dizzy too and it was only then she remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything in over 24 hours Because she’d forgotten to eat that morning. Not only that but, _Everything_ was aching which meant she had a decision to make. She shut her eyes contemplating whether or not she could continue.

Her feet hurt, her sides were burning and her heart was pounding.  She should just give up. Maybe this really was just her time to go. 

_Sam will remember me._ _ Maybe I was just meant to be part of Sam’s memory ,  I mean it’s not like I fit in ,  maybe I was meant to join the list of runner 5’s that Abel township have lost. _

She wouldn’t have an impact on anyone any way. She’d never made much of an impression pre apocalypse either. 

There were a lot of things she hadn’t done. 

She hadn’t been chosen for an Paralympic team GB training team, she hadn’t got her degree at uni,she hadn’t become an actress. She hadn’t made it onto **_Doctor Who_** or as a guest on _**Red Dwarf**. _She hadn’t even had her first kiss or her first relationship. She hadn’t said goodbye to anyone. 

and if only one person in the world cared about her going, then why was she carrying on. Why should she continue? 

She got her answer quickly after that. actually it was an answer to a previous question as well. She felt a light hit her face and the voice in her earpiece spoke again.

“ _ Oh, I dunno, Five. They said to me just now I should probably hit the sack sometime soon” _ Sam yawned in her ear  “ _They’ll send on someone else to keep sending out pings through the night, but I’ve gotta be honest… we’re losing hope here. A couple of zoms have arrived at the gates, and that usually means the bigger horde is on its way. Maybe only a few minutes ‘til we bar the gate. Another good runner gone. Another piece of equipment lost. And we’re…”_ he sighed in defeat, his sentence trailing off as if he had another thought

“ _The next time I see your face, maybe I’ll have to shoot you in the head.”_

_ Why should she carry on? Why was she still running?  _ The answer to that question had changed, over the forty five or so minutes she’d had since she’d first heard the signal from the radio again at midnight. The voice in the dark. 

Sam.

Sam was her reason to stay alive. 

* * *

Sam Yao was sat at the desk in the communications office, his fist propping his chin up as he leaned by the microphone, his eyes burning from the lack of sleep. It was a first for him, staying up all night and talking to a probable zombie runner from Abel. In the months since the apocalypse, not once had he done that when he’d lost a runner. not the three other runner Fives he’d been through. Although, he was on the comms when they died and they were able to talk to him. Alice was anyway, for the time before she turned. 

This Runner Five was like Alice. Smart, funny, pretty... wait, er, no not pretty. Well, she was pretty to him, but not like that. No, Five was his friend, nothing else. Or at least he’d wanted to believe that. 

But, he supposed, that nobody worries in the way he did about a friend, or continues talking when the Comms are down potentially to a zombie telling them his life story, unless they were something else. Well, probably with the exception of Eugene and Jack, those two were inseparable and if they were in that situation- he didn’t know what they’d do actually, because they’d never been in this situation. He’d never mentioned his family to anyone here, not even to Alice, when she was around. So that had to say something right? 

Not that he would mention it to Five of course. 

If she wasn’t grey, that is. 

Sam brushed a hand through his hair trying to stay focused and awake.

“No one stays sane through this, Five. Whatever the future is, it’s not going to be like the past. No ice cream rolls will make it better, no… no one saying they’re proud of me would make it okay.”

Maxine had come back in to the comms room carrying two mugs of what appeared to be coffee and sat down at the monitors placing them down besides them. Janine had made the decision that Sam needed to sleep and had woken up and sent Dr Maxine Myers back into the room lecture him about the importance of it. however she decided against it he had explained why he was up or why he’d woken Janine up. The doctor knew he was worried, so she went to go and get them both a drink whilst they waited for the outcome of the night. Sam did need to sleep, but he really didn’t want to leave Five by herself, at least, not if there was the minuscule and unlikely chance that she was alive. Although, Sam had lost hope that that was the case. It was more than likely that she’d gone grey and he was talking to a zombie, but yet, despite his doubts, he still he carried on talking to her.

But for what? Clarity of Five’s fate? Guilt for killing off another Runner Five? Because he’d failed at keeping her alive? He really didn’t know.

“Maybe you’re better off, see, is what I’m saying. I know we’re not supposed to say that, but… but sometimes I think…” he sighed

“Uh Sam?” Maxine said shifting in her seat and looking intensely at the monitor that showed the north direction of the settlement but Sam didn’t take any notice of it. the monitor was down. 

“Maybe, if you don’t have to try to build the future, you’re one of the lucky ones. Maybe...” 

“Sam!” Maxine spoke louder getting his attention as he  he turned to look in the direction of her and the monitor. noticing the surprise on her face.

“What? What is it? I told you, the scanner’s down, we can’t…” his eyes went wide as he saw what Maxine was pointing to on the screen “Oh my god, is that…” 

Sure enough, it was the familiar red hoodie that Five always seemed to be wearing on every run that she went on and the dusty blue trainers that were falling apart. He exchanged a shocked glance with Maxine before immediately moving back towards the mic and shouting down the device with delight.

“Runner Five! I can see you!”

* * *

_ “Runner Five! I can see you!”  _

Five let out a sigh of relief upon hearing Sam’s voice perk up, thank god ,  she’d been seen. And Janine had thankfully notified the guards on patrol about her being missing because they weren’t shooting at what could possibly be a sprinter zombie, rare as those were. and it wasn’t long before Sam’s voice rang out in her right ear once more. 

“ _Runner Five? Runner Five, if you can hear me, I can see you! Oh my god, Runner Five… You can’t see them, but there’s a tail behind you. Zombies, about thirty of them. They’re getting closer, I-I dunno, they make that sound at night. Run, Runner Five! Run, run, run! Raise the gates!”_

The familiar siren of the gates opening sounded and Five sprinted the last leg, running on pure adrenaline until she entered through the gates and into the safety of Abel Township to the sound of Sam’s voice welcoming her back.

“ _We’ve got you, Runner Five! You’re home!”_


End file.
